Other June Photos

What else did we do this month?

Well... 

We played a lot of dress up.

 Were extremely cute and smiley.

 Hung out in the ginormous master bathroom at our new place.

Made paper bag puppets and cuddled our baby brother.

Tried to keep Isaac occupied.

(Here he is fishing for letters in the alphabet and then writing them in his notebook)

Ate several picnics.

And hosted Tuesday laundry parties with our friend Natalia Magnusson and her little girl Aurelie.

(They came every Tuesday and hung out all day to do laundry at our place since they don't have a washer and dryer... a few times we invited Isaac's friend Z to play as well.  We had a great time with them!)

Swimming, swimming, and more swimming!

(Thank you Brent & Michelle for always inviting us along to their neighborhood swimming pool)

It has been hot outside and I apparently have 3 fish for children.  They all love the water!!!  We have gone swimming as often as we can.  We all enjoy it - especially when Dad can come along!

Isaac's 4th Birthday: The Party

Isaac was SO excited for his birthday party!!  It made me so happy to see his enthusiasm about it all!  He invited 6 little friends and his 4 cousins to come.  We had the birthday party at a park near our house (Ruth Morse Park) on a Friday morning June 29th from 9:30 - 11:30 am.  (We initially planned it for the Saturday morning - but that turned out to be a crazy busy day for a lot of his friends' families - so we rescheduled it to Friday - which worked out a lot better for everyone).  Michelle and her kids came to help me out - and 2 of the other kids' moms stayed to help me out as well.  And I am so glad that they did!!  I definitely needed to the extra hands. :)

The party was pretty low key - just my style.  :)  The kids happily played at the playground for about the first 30 minutes while we waited for everyone to arrive.  Then we had snacks (grapes, carrots, goldfish, and Capri Suns). 

Then it was time for cake!

And presents....

After we opened presents we herded the whole group across the park to the splash playground where the kids played for about 45 minutes before their moms came to pick them up.

Isaac LOVED the whole morning and was super well behaved at the party.  He just loved having time with his friends.  He's such a great boy!  

(And after the party we took photos of Isaac with each of his gifts and then he typed up email thank you notes to send to each of his friends.)

Isaac: 4 year old Birthday Interview

Straight from Isaac's mouth...

Favorite color: Green

Favorite TV show: Dora the Explorer

Favorite sport: Football

Favorite thing to do with Dad: Play cars

Favorite thing to do with Mom: Mow the lawn

Favorite thing to do with Elise: Read books together


Favorite thing to do with Caleb:  Laugh and smile

Favorite game:  Screwdriver and Drill pegboard toy

Most proud moment from last year: Going potty

Favorite Food: Pasketti (spaghetti) and meatballs or peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Favorite Scripture Story: Book of Mormon

Best Friend: Preston

Favorite thing about church: Going to Primary and when they sing-ed Happy Birthday to me

Favorite Book: Monster Math

Favorite Animal: Lion and Tiger

Favorite thing to do outside: Going to play at the park close to our house

Favorite Song: "I am a Child of God"

Best memory from the past year: Going swimming and playing

What are you looking forward to this next year: Christmas and Halloween

Any other comments: I like playing with Eliza.  I like eating food.  I like playing football with da-da.  Those are all!

Isaac's Birthday: Swimming

After dinner we were all going to go swimming as a family, but decided that might not be the best idea with the sick little kids.  So - Jeremy was nice enough to stay home with Elise and Caleb and I got the fun job of taking these 4 big kids swimming.  We had a BLAST.  Seriously... SO much fun!  Best time ever!!!  We played and played and played in the water.  Isaac jumped in the water and climbed back out and jumped in again.... over and over and over and over again.  We spent the entire time in the deep end and we were all loving life!

After swimming we headed home and Isaac enjoyed a second slice of birthday cake with just mom and dad at the kitchen table before getting into his pajamas and going to bed for the night.  It was a great day!  Happy 4th Birthday bud!  I can't believe how grown up you are!!!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

Isaac's Birthday: The Cake

The festivities continued when Jeremy came home with pizza!  Brent and Michelle's family joined us for dinner and cake.  YUM.  It was a family party and Isaac was loving life!

His cake this year was an ice cream sandwich cake with green frosting and blue sprinkles (per Isaac's request).  We sang Happy Birthday and he nearly burnt the tip of his nose getting so close to the candle to try to blow it out.  Silly boy!  Here he is showing just a little of his birthday enthusiasm.  I love it!!

Elise and Luke may have been sick... but they still managed to down some ice cream cake.  (Apparently ice cream is soothing to the mouth sores of Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease... who knew?)

It was a party!!

Isaac's 4th Birthday: The Afternoon

During quiet time Elise napped and Isaac happily played with his new toys.  Here he is with the Drill Pegboard game from Papa and Grandma Niland.  I even got a few minutes to play with him!

The rest of the afternoon was spent balancing the needs of a super excited birthday boy, a sick little cuddly girl, and a 4 1/2 month old baby.  The best way to accomplish that super human feat - watch television.  So the kids all got a healthy dose of Dora and Kipper that afternoon.

Isaac's 4th Birthday: The Outing

Isaac got to go to a REAL movie theater for the FIRST time on his 4th birthday!

The weather had been really HOT and so I knew that I wanted to do a special indoor activity for his birthday morning.  Since he had never been to a movie theater - I thought that would be a special treat.  I had planned this weeks ahead.  When Elise woke up so sick, I thought we might have to cancel everything - but Michelle was nice enough to watch sick Elise (Luke was sick with the same thing) and I took Blake and Ally with us to the theater to see Curious George.  And I am so glad they came - they were BIG helps to me.  Caleb was fussier than I had anticipated and Isaac though the movie was long and he got scared enough that he was crying and wanted to be held at least 3 different times.  And he kept asking to leave and when the movie would be over and why it was so long.  Poor guy.... When the movie ended I felt like it was a big fat FAIL for a birthday activity.  Until I heard Isaac proudly and excitedly telling his daddy all about it - and how big the screen was - and how much fun he had and that it was his favorite part of the day.  Silly boy...  

On the way home from the movie I picked up a Kid's Meal for Isaac from Chick-fil-A with... (wait for it!)... Root Beer!!!!  The kid was on cloud nine and loving life. 

Isaac's 4th Birthday: The Morning

I have NEVER in ALL MY LIFE seen a day more anticipated than Isaac's 4th Birthday!  He counted down for eons.  He talked about it constantly - for months.  He counted down EVERY single day of the month of June ALL ON HIS OWN.  He was SO excited. :)

But the much anticipated day finally arrived!!!

And this bright, smiling FOUR year old bounced into our room.

We immediately sang him Happy Birthday and snuggled him - then sent him off to get dressed. 

While we attended to.... (drum roll please...) SICK Elise. :(  Poor Elise had Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease and had a high fever and was MISERABLE the whole day.  Poor girl!

After Isaac got dressed we headed downstairs to open presents.  He was so excited!!  He did a great job opening all of them and saying thank you and the expressions on his face - everything - was just priceless.

After presents we ate a yummy breakfast of breakfast cake (with birthday sprinkles), blueberries (his favorite fruit), and cantaloupe.  We sang happy birthday and he blew out the candle. 

(And little Caleb was there too!)

It was great to be able to kick off the day with a festive start and have Jeremy there for breakfast and presents (since he went in to work a little late).  And to think that the day had only just begun...